outside my window

The apartment building stares back at me. The windows seem miniscule from here. Snapshots of peoples lives. Figures move around in them. Turn on a light. Turn it off. Stand on the balcony in a white bathrobe.

P1050001_2, originally uploaded by gill.

Here I am in the city, one of many windows.

Pull back the curtains, look out, and discover a bigger existence.

Where taboos speak loudly.

P1050001_3, originally uploaded by gill.

The city can make you feel important. A part of something big. Or isolated, small in the sea of it all.

It is invigorating and at the same time draining.

But if I pull back the curtains, see the light hit the high rises, a bird shoot past my window, it can pull me back up. A draft of brisk air shoots through the screen that separates me from the outside. Runs over my face. The cold air a warm awakening. Showing me much more than the sea of windows. Showing me there's more to beauty than nature's landscapes. That a building can catch the sun just as the ocean can. There's people; buildings; murals: urban versions of natural beauty.

P1050002_1, originally uploaded by gill.